Friday Freshness

A new season, a new car, and everything to play for. Friday morning brought a fresh start to the Le Mans Series season but, as always seems to be the case at this time of year, the south of France was not offering the idyllic warm weather for which the Riviera has become famous. A chill wind brought low clouds and the threat of rain to the day's schedule:

Friday 11 March 2011

• 07:00 Main entrance and paddock opens
• 08:30 Drivers' Briefing
• 09:30 Opening of the track
• 12:00 14:30 Lunch at the panoramic restaurant
• 12:45 End of the morning session
• 13:00 Press conference - GP Hall
• 13:15 13:45 Pit Walk for VIP Guests
• 14:00 Re-opening of the track
• 18:00 End of the session for all teams
• 18:30 22:00 Dinner

The Morning

A year ago we rapidly became accustomed to a busy track, thick with traffic and the air buzzing with the sound of horsepower. Twelve months later and it has been a different story. With only just over half the number of cars and a drab, grey overcast sky, there was a clear reluctance to fill the circuit. Only a handful of teams took to the track when the first session started, and that largely set the scene for the rest of the morning. In dribs and drabs the cars headed out, completed a few laps, then returned to the pitlane.

Tommy Erdos was eager to get out and try his hand at the new HPD chassis, and was into the action from early on; the car looking smart in its new colour scheme. With the HPD comfortably inside the top-ten from the first hour, Phil Barker and his team embarked on a typical development routine, completing a handful of laps each stint before calling Tommy back to the pitlane for adjustments, and then sending him back out again.

Later in the morning the threatened rain did arrive, mainly along the "back" of the circuit, towards the prevailing wind, and the surface became greasy. Phil chose this as an excuse to bring the HPD back into the garage for some more radical adjustments, but declared himself very pleased with initial feedback from his driver, and the general performance of the chassis.

With about an hour or so of the first session remaining, Tommy returned to the track, and saw out the remaining period. The times for the session were very late in being published, but were as follows:

Times from Session 1

	No.	Team	Drivers	Car	Session 1
1	20	Quifel-ASM Team	Amaral, Pla	Zytek 09SC	1:46.851
2	16	Pescarolo	Collard, Tinseau, Jousse	Pescarolo Judd	1:48.650
3	12	Rebellion Racing	Prost, Jani, Bleekemolen	Lola B10/60 Coupé Toyota	1:48.772
4	13	Rebellion Racing	Belicchi, Boullion, Smith	Lola B10/60 Coupé Toyota	1:48.804
5	46	TDS Racing	Beche, Thiriet	Oreca 03 Nissan	1:50.062
6	39	Pecom Racing	Companc, Russo, Kaffer	Lola B11/40 Judd	1:52.041
7	43	RLR Motorsport	Gates, Garofall, Phillips	MG Lola EX265 Judd	1:52.994
8	36	RML AD Group	Erdos, Newton, Collins	Honda ARX-01d HPD	1:53.279
9	44	Extreme Limite	Rosier, Luco, Basso	Norma M200P Judd	1:54.674
10	99	JMB Racing	Rodrigues	Formula Le Mans	1:57.952
11	95	Pegasus Racing	Schultis, Simon	Formula Le Mans	1:58.018
12	91	Hope Polevision	Tinguely, Moro	Formula Le Mans	1:58.050
13	89	Hankook Farnbacher	Farnbacher, Simonsen	Ferrari F430	1:59.306
14	77	Team Felbermayr Proton	Lieb, Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR	1:59.424
15	79	Jota	Hancock, Dolan	Aston Martin Vantage	1:59.612
16	86	Young Driver AMR	Enge|, Muller, Nygaard	Aston Martin Vantage	1:59.651
17	76	IMSA Performance Matmut	Pilet, Henzler	Porsche 911 RSR	1:59.651
18	51	AF Corse	Fisichella, Bruni	Ferrari F458 Italia	2:00.275
19	75	Prospeed Competition	Holzer, Goossens	Porsche 911 RSR	2:00.278
20	72	AF Corse	Kauffman, Waltrip, Aguas	Ferrari F430	2:00.275
21	67	IMSA Performance Matmut	Narac, Armindo	Porsche 911 RSR	2:00.744
22	92	Neil Garner M'sport	Hartshorne, Keating, Keen	Formula Le Mans	2:00.967
23	61	AF Corse	Perazzini, Cioci, Lemeret	Ferrari F430	2:01.246
24	70	Kessel Racing	Bromiszewski, Peter	Ferrari F430	2:02.080
25	82	CRS Racing	Hummel, Christidoulou, Quaife	Ferrari F430	2:03.037
26	40	Race Performance	Frey, Meichtry	Oreca 03 Judd	No Time
27	83	JMB Racing	Quick, Missilin, Al Qubaisi	Ferrari F430	No Time

First Impressions

"The car is an absolute dream to drive," said Tommy over lunch. "As a shakedown for us, this has been a great first session. Straight out of the box, it's been impressive."

"The car is lovely to drive and very predictable. I'm just so happy for the guys in the team. They've worked so hard this past fortnight just to have the car ready for today, and it's been an enormous effort from everybody concerned, so it's a testament to their meticulous preparation that we've not had a single issue. Coming here without any running at all could have opened up the potential for some serious problems, but everything's been perfect.

"I'm very pleased with the way the chassis feels. It's early days yet, and we still have a great deal to learn, but already I can see the enormous potential we have here, and we've established an excellent foundation to build upon. It seems an easy car to drive, and it goes through the corners as if it's racing on magnatrack! So stable, so sure-footed, and already I've been heading through the tighter sections here as fast as I've probably ever gone before. It's a very encouraging start, and I can't wait to get back out there and do some more!"

Afternoon Session

The day's second session got under way at 2:00 pm, with much the same routine for most of the teams. After trying out the RML HPD on a different tyre compound, Thomas Erdos pitted the car and stepped out of the cockpit, handing over to Mike Newton.

The CEO of AD Group completed a handful of laps before returning to the garage. "I was getting a small problem with the engine cutting out," he explained later. "It turned out to be nothing more than a faulty "stuck throttle" sensor that was falsely suggesting there was a problem, and causing the engine to cut out. It happened a couple of times and I came back in to have that fixed. Bearing in mind that this is the first time the car has ever even turned a wheel, and that's been the most serious issue we've encountered, I think we can safely say it's been an impressive start!" he added. With the sensor behaving itself, he completed an untroubled run of about an hour.

Ben Collins was then given control for the final half hour or more, completing ten laps and declaring himself well pleased. "That was great fun!" he grinned. The track temperature was starting to dip, so the tyres weren't biting as well as they might, so maybe I didn't get a true feeling for the car or how it will handle, but still impressive and a great start. The car has run reliably all day, and we've all had a good stint at the wheel. To have the car turned round like this in under a fortnight proves what an incredible job these guys at RML have done."

Back in the motorhome at the end of the session, Mike declared that the day had gone so well that there was cause for celebration, and promptly tucked into a generously sticky double-chocolate eclair. "The car has been superb, right from the start," he said between mouthfuls. "Everything feels so good, and considering this is the first time out, with no data to draw upon, I'm delighted to have been within five seconds of Tommy's time, and not much over two off Ben. That's all very satisfactory."

If there is a concern, it's one that's been spotted by many trackside observers. "The power from the engine is a concern," admitted Mike. "I should stress straight away that this is nothing to do with HPD's involvement, but the restrictors we've been issued with are simply too small. It will be a huge disappointment if we have to race here next month under these conditions. Anyone can look at the speed trap times and see that this is just not right." The data suggests that the RML HPD is actually the slowest car here this weekend, recorded along the main Mistral Straight, and by a significant margin. That's not just slowest in LMP2, but slowest overall, including all the GT and Formula Le Mans entries.

"We always felt that the Lola Coupé (that the team ran in 2010) was good for a second or so over the similar open-topped car, like RLR's MG. All of a sudden we find we're seven seconds off what our true pace should be, and it's very frustrating. I had Formula Le Mans cars that were seven or eight lengths behind me coming on to the straight that were out of sight round the next corner before I reached the end."

If the pace was not what it should be, Mike was enjoying the handling. "It's simply exceptional," he said. On only my fourth lap here - my fourth lap anywhere in this car - I felt confident enough to go through Signes, at the end of the straight, with just the merest lift on the throttle. In the past I've always felt the need to dab the brakes a little, but such is the level of confidence that the HPD bestows that I felt I could carry that pace through the corner."

Mike is also pleased to out of the closed cockpit. "It's definitely a huge improvement to be back in an open-topped car," he said. The sensation of speed, and the wind whistling past his helmet, gives a far better understanding of pace, and and appreciation of what motor racing is all about. "All in all, a tremendous first day," he conceded. "This is our first shakedown test, with a new car, new tyres, new telemetry and we've had no real issues at all. That's a very positive start."

Times from Session 2

	No.	Team	Drivers	Car	Session 2
1	13	Rebellion Racing	Belicchi, Boullion, Smith	Lola B10/60 Coupé Toyota	1:46.573
2	20	Quifel-ASM Team	Amaral, Pla	Zytek 09SC	1:46.597
3	16	Pescarolo	Collard, Tinseau, Jousse	Pescarolo Judd	1:46.982
4	12	Rebellion Racing	Prost, Jani, Bleekemolen	Lola B10/60 Coupé Toyota	1:47.045
5	46	TDS Racing	Beche, Thiriet	Oreca 03 Nissan	1:50.291
6	39	Pecom Racing	Companc, Russo, Kaffer	Lola B11/40 Judd	1:51.074
7	40	Race Performance	Frey, Meichtry	Oreca 03 Judd	1:52.656
8	43	RLR Motorsport	Gates, Garofall, Phillips	MG Lola EX265 Judd	1:52.777
9	92	Neil Garner M'sport	Hartshorne, Keating, Keen	Formula Le Mans	1:54.179
10	36	RML AD Group	Erdos, Newton, Collins	Honda ARX-01d HPD	1:54.877
11	44	Extreme Limite	Rosier, Luco, Basso	Norma M200P Judd	1:55.353
12	99	JMB Racing	Rodrigues	Formula Le Mans	1:55.589
13	95	Pegasus Racing	Schultis, Simon	Formula Le Mans	1:56.054
14	91	Hope Polevision	Tinguely, Moro	Formula Le Mans	1:57.016
15	89	Hankook Farnbacher	Farnbacher, Simonsen	Ferrari F430	1:58.106
16	75	Prospeed Competition	Holzer, Goossens	Porsche 911 RSR	1:58.997
17	77	Team Felbermayr Proton	Lieb, Lietz	Porsche 911 RSR	1:59.424
18	76	IMSA Performance Matmut	Pilet, Henzler	Porsche 911 RSR	1:59.128
19	51	AF Corse	Fisichella, Bruni	Ferrari F458 Italia	1:59.150
20	67	IMSA Performance Matmut	Narac, Armindo	Porsche 911 RSR	2:00.080
21	61	AF Corse	Perazzini, Cioci, Lemeret	Ferrari F430	2:00.172
22	70	Kessel Racing	Bromiszewski, Peter	Ferrari F430	2:00.357
23	83	JMB Racing	Quick, Missilin, Al Qubaisi	Ferrari F430	2:00.408
24	86	Young Driver AMR	Enge|, Muller, Nygaard	Aston Martin Vantage	2:00.724
25	72	AF Corse	Kauffman, Waltrip, Aguas	Ferrari F430	2:00.988
26	82	CRS Racing	Hummel, Christidoulou, Quaife	Ferrari F430	2:02.300
27	79	Jota	Hancock, Dolan	Aston Martin Vantage	No Time